KAY MORGAN'S mum Morag lose her life to breast cancer but prepared her daughters for how to deal with the illness and fight the disease.

WHEN Kay Morgan was diagnosed with breast cancer, one of the first emotions she felt was overwhelming relief.

Kay, 39, hadn’t been feeling ill.

And no doctor had ever told her that she had an increased risk of getting the disease.

But when Kay was just 21, she and her two younger sisters watched their mum Morag lose her life to breast cancer.

And she insists she always knew she would also be diagnosed.

Kay, of Prestwick, Ayrshire, said: “I know it sounds strange to say it was a relief, but I had always expected to get it.

“My mum was a very astute lady and she realised that with three daughters, the chances were that one of us would get breast cancer, too.

“She had prepared us all for it and, without scaring us, she had warned us what to do.

“So when I was diagnosed, it was actually a relief to know that it had happened.

“I could deal with it and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it anymore.”

Kay, who runs her own training consultancy business, was diagnosed in October 2011 when she was just 38 – the same age her mum had been when she first found a lump in her breast.

Devoted mum Morag with Kay, Lorna and Sarah

Morag faced two separate breast cancers before the disease spread into her bones.

She died aged just 48.

Almost two decades on, Kay said the shadow of her mum’s cancer has always hung over her family, including her dad Ian, 69.

But she said it was only because of her mum’s illness that she was aware enough to fight for the screening that picked up the disease.

And it is because of her fight for screening that Kay and sisters, Sarah, 33, and Lorna, 36, now know they all carry an increased genetic risk of the cancer.

Kay said: “I know I owe my life to my mum.

“When you have lost someone in your family to breast cancer, no one is bashing down your door to make sure that you go for breast screening.

“You have to be the one pushing to be checked out.”

Kay – who is married to Ian, 52, and has a daughter, Ava, eight, as well as two grown-up step-children – said she was deeply upset when tests at her second breast screening appointment revealed cancerous cells in her left breast.

But she said she had expected the diagnosis for so long that she knew exactly what treatment she wanted.

Kay said: “I was diagnosed with a type of breast cancer known as DCIS. The doctor told me this type of cancer wouldn’t spread as long as the tumour was removed.

“But my mum always told us, ‘They’re only breasts – get rid of them’. So I insisted on having both my breasts removed.”

After undergoing a double mastectomy with reconstruction, Kay needed no further follow-up treatment other than undergoing genetic testing to see if she carried mutations of either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which would mean she ran a hereditary risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

When the results came back positive, Kay wasn’t surprised.

But she was shocked when further tests revealed both her sisters carried the gene, too.

Kay said: “I was shocked, but I thought, ‘Well, at least that means our other sister will definitely be fine’. But then her tests came back positive, too.”

While Kay opted to have her ovaries removed in a pre-emptive bid to stop the cancer, her sisters are still to decide what steps, if any, they wish to take.

Kay with Lorna and Sarah

But Kay said knowing that they are medically at risk of both breast and ovarian cancer is a powerful tool in their weaponry against the disease.

Kay said: “I get really annoyed when I hear women say they would rather not know. You cannot bury your head in the sand.

“I’ve had breast cancer and now it’s gone. Because of my diagnosis, my sisters now know they have the BRCA2 gene.

“They know for sure and they can act to deal with it. As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have to worry about breast cancer anymore.”

The memory of mum Morag’s bravery has inspired her to do all she can to raise awareness of the disease.

So she will take to the catwalk at Breast Cancer Care’s Fashion Show in September, the charity’s glittering fundraising event, held in association with the Daily Record.

Kay said: “Cancer in my family stops here. My mum was such a wonderful, brave lady who gave my sisters and I the strength and confidence to deal with whatever came to our door – including breast cancer.

Kenneth Ferguson

Kay and husband Ian with little Ava

“We will need to educate our children about the genetic testing they face in the future. But we have to believe that, by the time our children are young men and women, this disease will no longer cause such heartache.”

She added: “For that to happen we have to keep raising awareness of breast cancer, and if me walking down the Breast Cancer Care catwalk helps do that, then I am delighted to be involved.”

Kay is one of 20 models taking part in the Breast Cancer Care Scottish Fashion Show on September 26 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow. For tickets and more information visit www.breastcancercare.org.uk/theshowglasgow